Walk around Grane Reservoirs and quarries main highlights
4 Great Egrets flying west over HWR just after 8am then circled over Ogden then East then South. 4 were seen over Elton heading North at 7.40am which must have been the same birds. Prior to that 4 were seen at Audenshaw which flew west and 4 at Pennington which flew North both groups at 7am.
Wader fest today
Green Sandpiper commuting between Ogden and CHR
top end of Ogden 4 Redshank, 1 snipe, 1 little ringed plover, 1 dunlin and 1 little stint .....the large wader couldnt make out if fully yet. I can only conclude that this is a Spotted Redshank, it is a larger bird than the others and when I saw them first sight I thought they were Ruff due to the size differences.
This would make it a remarkable day wader wise as both Little Stint and Spotted Redshank would be new to my Rossendale lists and even year lists!
Other highlights
60 min Linnet probably roosting at the farm above Holden Wood,
min 25 Siskin flock over Holden Wood,
min 150 Goldfinch charm around car park of Holden Wood,
1 Whinchat at Deep Clough,
4 Wheatears including a single female on track between Troy and Jamestone and a female with 2 young fledged around the Deep Clough end of Jamestone East - I believe the 2 young fledged locally.
approx 170 Starlings
approx 100 Mallard of which about 70 were at Calf hey
approx 100 Meadow Pipits around jittery and migranty-ish
min 100 Swallows
min of 60 House Martins
maybe 10 Sand Martins
6 Chiffchaff singing at various locations. These are my first autumn singing Chiffchaff of the year and they were hoo-eting loudly. I believe they were all new in.
3 Willow Warblers
1 Whitethroat at Calf hey
The Redshanks were not present at first so must have come down in the heavy shower. I feel the wader influx was caused by the fact that Haslingden and south and east were very murky yet Grane was clearer. I could see the mist envelope the areas to the east and south of Musbury Heights
sorry smart phone not working and i have no ones numbers
-- Edited by sarfraz on Friday 28th of August 2026 09:18:03 PM
-- Edited by sarfraz on Friday 28th of August 2026 09:24:28 PM
The bird in photo number 2 is a Greenshank and there were 2 present. The larger bird with the Redshank is unlikely to be a Spotted Redshank as there is no indication of a supercilium. The larger size could be because of size difference between male and female.
